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Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Homeschool Week 15: Moving Right Along

Last week was a harder week than normal for us in school. I am not sure if it was getting back into the routine after the Thanksgiving break we had just taken the week before or the excitement of Christmas coming. The boys were just more hyped up than normal and it took all my energy to keep them focused and motivated. I survived, and here is a look at what we covered in school.

I decided to change it up a little this month for the Christmas season. When looking for Christmas ideas for family devotionals/ readings I ran across this fun idea and decided to give it a try in our Bible class. I am still following our Abeka curriculum except I am changing out the Bible story part for the daily readings in The Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Calendar and Readings .
During the month of December we will read 21 stories from the Old Testament—each ending with a paragraph
that ties into the imminent birth of Jesus—and then 3 stories from the
New Testament about the birth story of Jesus. I love the painting of the stories as they weave from one to another and my prayer is that when we get to the birth story they will have a good understanding of how the story was played out through time. Most importantly I want them to see God's plan and His hands at work through the generations.

The Jesus Storybook Bible
Ours is in English and Spanish

our reading plan for the month of December

In addition to our Bible story time we have also begun singing several Christmas songs. The ones we are singing/ learning so far are Silent Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World!, and Away in a Manger. We also began learning a new song called I Love You, Lord. Our doctrinal drill was on sin. For memory work Cruz has to practice reciting his last two long passages together, Psalm 34: 8-19, and be able to say it all by the end of the month. Bible class is my favorite and I am excited about our study this month!

In Math Cruz's lesson was on Doubles +1. For example he had to learn to add 3+4. Instead of memorizing the answer to be seven he had to double the three and add one (3+3=6 +1=7). He thought that was a fun challenge and caught on really quick.

working a math sheet

practicing some math facts

Ben's math lessons had him counting to 30 and writing numbers 1-10.

I made a Christmas tree shape out of yarn. I would show him a number flashcard and he would have to count and put that many stars on the tree. He loves counting games like that.

Here he is practicing numbers and counting on this fun puzzle.

In Language Cruz begins his lesson each day with a spelling test. We then work on reading and writing vocabulary words. He is learning some new letter clusters. He began reading storybook #6 which has six short stories in it. We will finish it up this week and take his assessment test afterwards. Our new grammar lesson for the week was on abc order (putting words in order alphabetically). We also continue to work on sentence structure. We end each lesson with a fun phonics game. Cruz loves games!

reading one of his stories

His handwriting looks terrible but he was practicing his spelling.

Ben is continuing to focus on a letter each week. This week he learned the letter F. His memory verse for that letter was Isaiah 43:5- Fear not, for I am with thee.

He also had daily lessons on learning left and right. He learned to sing Looby Loo and loves it.

Ben putting alphabet flashcards in order

writing the letter F

Our History lessons were on the Declaration of Independence.

To illustrate his copywork he decided to draw rockets being shot to celebrate the 4th of July.

For our activity we made our own Declaration of Independence scroll. We each signed our names at the bottom.

signing the scroll

We painted tea on it to give it an antique look.

When the tea dried we carefully burned the edges to make it look old.

Our Declaration of Independence scroll. He didn't have to copy it out. He just drew some squiggly lines through the center part. When done we rolled it up and tied it with a ribbon.

proud of their scroll

Also in History we learned about the State of Alabama.

In Science we continued our study of rocks focusing this week on igneous rocks. Our activity was to make our own volcano. I do not ever remember making a volcano in school and so far Cruz has made one in kindergarten and 1st grade. They have been asking the whole school year when it was going to be volcano week again so they were quite excited when it finally rolled around. David helped out a good bit making this one. We ended up doing it outside using a tin can and some mud.

Building our volcano. David formed the dirt and Ben poured the water.

Cruz adding baking soda to our vinegar and red food coloring to form the "lava".

That grin makes all my planning worth it.

He had to draw and paint a volcano in his workbook.

Watching a video on volcanoes during lunch on Friday. This is becoming our Friday science tradition.

In Health we studied the nose. We learned the parts of the nose and how it works. One of our activities was to smell several different items to see what we thought smelled good and bad. I picked several items from around the house to use. They thought this was fun.

We did a taste test where I had them squeeze their noses while I placed some cinnamon on their tongues. They were not able to taste the cinnamon until they let go of their noses.

At the end of the week I had them draw a picture of their favorite smell. Cruz drew an apple and Ben started drawing little circles on his paper and coloring them brown. When I asked him what he was drawing he said "coffee beans!" He is just like his daddy.

their favorite smells

In Art they drew a piglet.

We changed out our door decorations. Here is a photo of all of our thankful leaves that we did for November.

what my boys are thankful for

We added a Christmas theme using a sticker poster that was given to us by a sweet team member.

adding our nativity stickers

our door so far for December

Cruz and I also made this Christmas countdown for our door. They get so excited to move it each day.

It is a fun time of the year and I look forward to the next few weeks of getting to experience Christmas with my boys. We have a few more weeks of school to squeeze in before we take a break. I'll be ready for that break by the time it arrives but until then I plan to enjoy this time of memory making with my two little guys.